The Story of BELFAST CATHEDRAL by
JOHN A. YOUNG.

I was glad when they said unto me
“let us go into the house of the Lord.”

In viewing any of the lovely medieval Cathedrals which abound in England and on the Continent, it is perhaps but natural that the beholder should for a brief space live in retrospect through the centuries that separate us from

". . . the man who fashioned for the sense These lofty pillars, spread that branching roof Self-poised, and scooped into the thousand cells Where light and shade repose, where music dwells Lingering - and wandering on as loth to die."

Who can fail to thrill on looking at the very stones of Canterbury, worn hollow by the feet of countless pilgrims to the shrine of Saint Thomas a Becket, or who is not moved to wonder on contemplating the great West Window of Winchester Cathedral, reduced to fragments by Cromwell's vandal Roundheads, and after the Restoration miraculously raised again, not as originally designed, but in a mosaic-like pattern of ethereal loveliness!

And perhaps the most thought-provoking of all - a walk around Westminster Abbey, with its memories of Monarchs and Musicians, Poets and Politicians, and all the others of that great company whose names are perpetuated in the Mother Church of English Christendom - "the history of our race set in stone"!

Belfast's Cathedral Church of Saint Anne will, however, imbue very different thoughts, as it is entirely an engenderment of the twentieth century. Its power to inspire must, apart from the immediate present, be one of prospect rather than of distant retrospect, of projecting the mind to the years ahead, and reflecting on the generations yet unborn who will tread its pavements and render praise within its walls.

Saint Anne's is a modern Cathedral in a modern City, for Belfast itself is, relatively speaking, of very recent growth. It is indicated on an old Norman map (circa 1300 A.D.) as "Le Ford" and contiguous to its more important neighbour "Kragfergus" (Carrickfergus). From this early appellation is derived the modern name:

Bel or Beul or Beal - a mouth, an entrance, a ford
and
Fearsad or Farset - a sandbank.

The first syllable is readily understandable, as the town or village stood at the mouth of a river, and at the confluence of the two banks of "Lough Bannchor" (Bangor). The second syllable is a reminder that the City's present fine Harbour has, by prolonged patience and industry, been won from sandbanks and mudflats.

Belfast's corporate existence dates back to 1613 when, as a very small town or village, it was constituted a Corporation by charter of King James the First.

In the year 1660 it was comprised of a mere one hundred and fifty houses, huddled together in six streets and five lanes.

Almost a century later, in 1757, there was a population of just over 8,500, which twenty-five years later had increased to over 13,000 inhabitants.

In 1776, on the site now occupied by the Cathedral, the Church of St Anne was built and designated as the Parish Church of Belfast. As such it took the place of the old Corporation Church in High Street which, known as the Church (or Chapel) of the Ford, had hitherto served as the Parish Church, although according to some authorities it never legally was such.

This venerable building having become structurally dangerous was demolished in 1774, and the new Parish Church which thereby became necessary was accordingly provided at the sole expense of the landlord of the Town, the first Marquis of Donegall. It was built on the site of the second Linen Hall.* Work was commenced on the foundations on 9th May, 1774, and the Church was opened for worship on 27th October, 1776. The traditional name by which the new Church should have been called was St Patrick's, but the noble donor wished to honour the name of his first wife (nee Lady Anne Hamilton, daughter of the Duke of Hamilton) and so it was dedicated in the name of Saint Anne, the mother of the Virgin Mary.

All the rights, dignities and powers of the old Corporation Church were transferred to the new Parish Church of St Anne, and the ancient site in High Street, with its extensive surrounding graveyard, lay derelict for forty years until the present St George's Church was erected and opened for worship on 16th June, 1816.

St Anne's and St George's remained for some years the Church of Ireland's only two places of worship in Belfast, and the population of the town multiplied with astonishing rapidity during the whole of the nineteenth century.

Not until 1888 was the rank of a City conferred on Belfast by a Royal Charter of Queen Victoria, and its boundaries were extended to their present-day limits by virtue of a Statute enacted by the Imperial Parliament in 1896.

It was in 1894 that the proposal to build a Cathedral was first advanced, but it was not until the closing months of the nineteenth century - 6th September, 1899, to be exact - that the foundation stone was laid.

The plans provided for a new building which was to be unique in many respects, and perhaps the most unusual feature was the method adopted by which the outer walls of the Cathedral's Nave were to be raised, stone by stone, around a Church in which worship was still being offered up.

The plan was that not only should the Cathedral succeed to and embody in itself the Name, the Clergy, and the Congregation of the old Parish Church of St Anne, but it was, furthermore, to occupy the very site of that Church.

And so, to minimise the interim period that inevitably had to elapse between the demolition of the old edifice and the consecration of the new, worship was maintained in one while work proceeded apace on the other.

The last public service was held in the old Church on the 31st December, 1903, and six months later, on the morning of Thursday, 2nd June, 1904, the Nave of the new Cathedral was consecrated by Bishop Welland in the presence of a great gathering which included the two Archbishops and all the Bishops of the Church of Ireland, together with over 200 of the Diocesan Clergy. At this historic service the preacher was the famous Dr Boyd Carpenter, Bishop of Ripon.

At the evening service the preacher was Dr Chadwick, Bishop of Derry, who dwelt on the spiritual ideal which, with two-fold intent, underlay and inspired the building of the Cathedral; firstly, "to give body and form in a worthy centre and rallying place to the unity of Church people as one great family, desirous from time to time of worshipping together," and secondly, "to recognise and embody the religious value of beauty by building a place of prayer not only ample enough to receive our largest assemblies, but with as much grace and sober stateliness as the best and most patient endeavours might supply."

The decision to build the Nave first was in itself a departure from orthodox procedure, inasmuch as the construction of nearly all the great Cathedrals, ancient and modern, was begun at the East End.

"Not even the Deities can withstand necessity" ran an old Latin proverb, and in Belfast the aim was eventually to provide accommodation in one great church for a congregation of four thousand worshippers. It was patent, however, that so vast a building as contemplated could only be constructed in sections, and the most pressing problem was the immediate necessity of providing as extensive a space as possible for the accommodation of a large congregation. Accordingly it was decided that the Nave would be the first section to be undertaken, and while this decision was to inflict on the worshippers of at least two generations the discomfort of facing a temporary and unfinished East End, yet who can deny that the ultimate outcome will be to "turn our necessity to glorious gain"?

The east end of an ecclesiastical building has always had great architectural significance, symbolising as it does the culmination of the pilgrim's journey to the Holy-Table.

Little did those who first conceived the plans for the Cathedral realise that the progress towards that culminating point would be interrupted by two devastating wars, which would not only retard its completion but would also multiply its cost.

But soon, it is hoped, a glorious East End will rise in all the majesty of the Architect's conception, to dominate and enhance the completed Cathedral, and only then will the aesthetic and spiritual merge and blend in one unifying whole. So will prosper, to quote Bishop Lightfoot, "that larger, more arduous, more protracted work of building up the spiritual fabric, a glorious edifice, a majestic fortress of truth and righteousness, a holy temple, acceptable to the Lord."

The exacting and formidable task of settling the style and design of the new Cathedral was entrusted to Sir Thomas Drew, then the most distinguished of Irish architects. After mature consideration he discarded his original conception of a Gothic building in favour of a modified form of Romanesque, and the resultant design was influenced by the practical considerations previously mentioned. These led, in the Architect's own words, "to the adoption of a style not quite new or quite old, but inspired by study of examples of earlier churches of the Romanesque period."

John Ruskin has said that the character of Romanesque architecture, and of all derived from it, depends on its roofing spaces with round arches, and goes on to describe it as "an architecture full of expression of gigantic power and strength of will, and from which are directly derived all our most impressive early buildings."

The Cathedral as it stands to-day is broad and spacious, and dependent for its architectural effect on the massiveness, dignity, and beauty of its proportions.

These factors, matched with a sobriety of detail, are all in direct contrast to a corresponding Gothic building, which would have been much less broad, and dependent for its effect on profusion of ornament blended with delicacy of execution.

Imposing in its great dimensions, the Nave has accommodation for a congregation of approximately two thousand people. It is designed on multiples of twenty, and thus the cardinal features of the Nave's interior plan may be briefly summarised as follows:

LENGTH: 120 feet, divided into six bays, each of 20 feet span.
(A bay is the intervening space between two pillars.)

WIDTH: 40 feet, which together with the two aisles, each 20 feet wide, and the pillars, each with a base 4 feet 6 inches square, make a total width from north to south of 89 feet.

HEIGHT: 100 feet to the ridge tile (that is, the point at which the two slopes of the roof converge).

When the Cathedral has been completed by the addition of the East End as contemplated, the over-all interior measurement will be increased to almost 300 feet, that is approximately two and a half times the length of the now-completed Nave. Looking from West to East there will be unfolded an impressive vista of Nave, Choir, Crossing, Presbytery and Eastern Chapel, while opening out at right angles to north and south from the present temporarily enclosed Choir will be the two Transepts.

In these pages the points of the compass (north, south, east, and west) are used in a liturgical sense, as the orientation* of the Cathedral is not exact. Therefore

East: denotes that portion (unfinished) containing Communion Table, Bishop's Throne, Clergy and Choir Stalls, etc.

Opposite is the West: where are the three main portals.

Standing at the Great (i.e. the Central) West door and looking eastwards, the

North: is on the left hand, and the

South: is on the right hand (Lord Carson's Tomb is in the South Aisle).

A stance at the centre of the Great West Door provides a convenient point for a studied survey of the Nave. From here can be seen the noble proportions of the building, with its lofty roof, its massive columns, and its great width. Clearly revealed also is the perfect symmetry of the design - the multiples of twenty previously referred to.

In vivid contrast to the beauty of the completed Nave is the blankness and indeed ugliness of the temporary eastern walls, serving to remind the present generation of the urgent necessity for pressing on with the completion of a great work so well begun.
__________

On the northern jamb of the Great West Door and just over six feet from the floor, there is embedded a plate commemorating the laying of the Cathedral's foundation stone in 1899.

Beneath this stone was deposited a hermetically sealed casket containing not only a Bible, Prayer Book and Hymnal, but also certain contemporary documents such as Diocesan and Parochial Reports for 1898, copies of current Belfast newspapers, and a parchment inscribed with the details of the ceremony and the names of those participating in it.

In what distant and remote future era will the contents of this casket again be revealed to human eye - a fascinating subject for speculation!

On the floor just inside the Great West Door and in line with its centre point is a patterned circle two feet in diameter. This is wrought in marble and is composed of 32 separate pieces, each representing one o£ the 32 counties in Ireland, thus symbolising the unity of the Church of Ireland.

The floor of the Nave and the Aisles will well repay the closest attention. That portion immediately opposite the West Door exemplifies a labyrinth - "a mighty maze! but not without a plan." Executed in black and white Irish marble, the white forming a narrow pathway flanked on both sides by the black, it is symbolic of the difficulties of the Christian life. A successful negotiation of its twistings and turnings brings the pilgrim to that straight and narrow path leading directly to the Holy Table.

This, the centre aisle, has panels of red marble enclosed with bands of black, red, and white, set against other larger and more elaborate geometrical patterns.

In the side aisles, large panels of red marble with black and white borders are separated from each other by further geometrical patterns, alternately circular and square in shape, and each one opposite a pillar. The designs thus wrought with such care and skill are all different in conception and execution, and serve to demonstrate some of the permutations and combinations obtainable from the use of primary shapes. Each is rich in variety of detail, and all blend and merge to produce a vista of endless charm.

The scale and style of the building appeared to demand for the floor something larger than conventional stone tiles, and for this reason the marble utilised was hewn in slabs. From quarries situate in various parts of Ireland this was obtained as follows:

Black Marble: from Kilkenny and Galway
White Marble: from Recess, Dunlewy, and Clifden
Red Marble: from Cork.

The comfort of the individual worshipper was in mind when the portions of the Nave occupied by chairs were paved in Canadian maple, specially selected for the purpose and laid herring-bone fashion in a mastic cement of great strength. This ensures a pavement which perfectly fulfils its purpose in every essential, being solid, durable, noiseless, waterproof, and wholly unaffected by any normal variations in temperature.

With the exception of the wood paving, all the materials used for the flooring are of Irish origin, thus complying with one of three stipulations laid down by the generous donor The other two conditions were, firstly, that the flooring should be appropriate to the building, and secondly, that it should be the best of its kind.

As to the first condition, "the heavenly rhetoric of thine eye" is sufficient for its fulfilment, and as to the second, it has been claimed with justification that here there is one of the most notable pavements laid in any modern building.